Delhi HC quashes FIR on the principle of double jeopardy

The Delhi High Court recently delivered a judgement quashing an FIR registered under Sections 376/ 366/ 315/ 344 of the Indian Penal Code by relying on the doctrine of double jeopardy..The petitioner/accused represented by Advocates Parth Goswami and Hemant Phalpher stated that the said FIR had been registered on the same allegations, which were the subject matter of an earlier FIR, which had been quashed on merits by a bench of the Allahabad High Court..According to the doctrine of double jeopardy, an accused cannot be tried again on same or similar charges based on the same facts after he/ she has been acquitted or convicted once..The Allahabad High Court had quashed the FIR while noting the affidavit of theinvestigating agency, which had stated that no incriminating evidence could be found indicating the commission of an offence..Counsel for the State Ashish Agarwal admitted that the allegations in the second FIR of the complainant were the same as that in the quashed FIR with only the jurisdiction of the Delhi Courts been availed of..The Single Judge Bench of Justice Indermeet Kaur of the Delhi High Court held that the second FIR, which had been registered on the complaint of the same person was verbatim. While quashing the FIR, the Bench observed that,.“The second FIR levelling the same allegations is thus nothing short of an abuse of the process of the Court. It could not been adverted to.”.Read Judgement: